"The rights of copyright holders need to be protected, but some draconian remedies that have been suggested would create more problems than they would solve," Mr Leahy said.

"We need to work together to find the right answers, and this is not one of them."

A spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) said Mr Hatch was making a point that if networks did not clamp down on copyright infringement "Congress may be forced to consider stronger measures".

Last year, Democratic senator Howard Berman drew up a bill that would allow artists to carry out "hack-attacks" on the computers of people who had downloaded tracks illegitimately.